Red
by TallerThanThou ShorterThanThou
Summary: Us parasites lived by a code of law, of which many were spoken, unspoken, or written down. I was about to break them. The bad part was; I didn't care.
1. Preface

Us parasites lived by a code of law, of which many were spoken, unspoken, or written down. It was a complicated system, something that would no doubt bore you to death if I ever bothered to explain it. So I'll just introduce a couple of the important ones to you. Don't ever kill one of your comrades. Line of succession to the throne depended on who was more powerful. Humans are well, just humans-food or toys. Sound familiar? And the most important? Don't ever mix with them. If you lived like we did, you'd learn to stay far away from crossing the line. Consequences were severe. Unfortunately, yes, I do speak from first hand experience. Many of us had all seen at least one lawbreaker burnt to death.

Well guess what? I was about to break most of them. For the sake of one foolish, hotheaded, _human_. I couldn't care less.


	2. Chapter One

It was another day in our little underground hole. You couldn't tell though, with the ground blocking the light and everything. However, that didn't stop that imbecile pineapple from pouncing on my bed, demonstrating his ability to turn invisible. Yes, folks, we parasites have powers. The irony here kills me; we, the parasites, abominations that feed off of you homo sapiens and practically depend on you to live, have powers you never dreamed of. Such was the world. It was not fair. And neither was I, I thought grimly as I proceeded to throw Renji into my still sleeping brother. Well, brother in law, but close enough.

Perhaps I should explain to all of you out there why that was not a good idea-unless you are Kuchiki Rukia, younger sister to Kuchiki Byakuya, the current head of the parasites. Parasite lost its bad meaning here; all of us were like that. We were proud of it. Oops, I got off topic again. So, Byakuya does not like bulky male parasites over six feet tall thrown at him when he was enjoying a nice nap with my sister, Hisana. Even though he was not very verbal about it, you could still tell by the famous Kuchiki 'ice glare' that he gave my childhood friend.

Even Abarai Renji, the dude who managed to live without a brain for 152 years had to cower and run. Our world was simple enough once you experienced it. We all lived underground, but not out of fear for sunlight as some misguided humans seem to belief. It was just more convenient that way. We just pop out from random entrances to our hand dug tunnel system and eat whoever happens to be near. However, we have an unspoken rule never to kill anyone famous. It would draw too much attention. Seriously imagine the newspaper headline 'Famous person drops dead mysteriously in the middle of nowhere. Bite marks seen on neck. Are vampires real?' That's why it's easier to simply use a tad of hypnotism and get them to give you their status and name. I forgot to mention, all of use have a special power unique to them. And all of us have a least a tad of hypnotism. It's the first thing you get trained in, at Parasite Academy. The sad part was, yes, this all existed underground. Humans are as clueless as ever. Oh yeah, you're probably wondering about the age thing. Well, we can die. Our life spans are 5000 years. We can get diseases from the blood we're drinking (it's also possible to get drunk off a drunkard's blood) but our immune system usually gets rid of it within a week. Now, the question you all are asking; how are we born? None of us have lived long enough (except maybe Yamamoto but he refuses to tell) to know. However, he did tell us that in the old days; we mainly turned by giving the humans a bit of our venom. Or to put it plainly, biting but not killing.

He said that there was a time where we lived above ground. There were few of us then, and it was commonplace to turn your human counterpart. Nowadays, however, we reproduced like you humans (I refuse to list the details). Once you got over the killing someone for food every other week, we had a pretty pleasant life. We did manage to steal the occasional TV or some other electronic device but it was always thrown away later. Why? Yamamoto's paranoid. If we keep them in our base for long enough, humans would get curious as to why there's a constant signal of radiation from underground. Unfortunately, no one, not even Byakuya was brave enough to argue with Yamamoto (the oldest of all of us and the most powerful but too old for the active role of leader). Even he did not enjoy being burned to ashes. Maybe later, I'll be more powerful than Yamamoto. Then I could play Chappy World all I wanted. When I gain more control over my power. My thoughts were interrupted by Rangiku.

"I finally have enough money and now we can go shopping!" Typical. Rangiku had been longing to go shopping ever since she heard that a new designer store had opened. I thought back to two months ago.

Flashback:

I was dragged around like a toy doll in the store. My feet ached but my harebrained friend was relentless. We had enough bags to fill up the car that we loaned. Despite that, she forced more outfits on me.

End flashback.

"No," I protested. It was too late. Hisana had heard. You may not know this, but whenever the usually quite Hisana gets with Rangiku, she turns into a loud, shopalholic, plotting, parasite teenager. My fate had been sealed.


	3. Chapter Two

After four hours and more than one hundred outfits later, I was ready to drop dead (no pun intended). However, seeing as Hisana and Rangiku were trying on clothes with more enthusiasm than ever, I saw little chance of escaping this misery. The only thing I could do was sit in one of the overly stuffed chairs of Black and White house and wallow is despair. It was then that I saw the devil herself approaching with thirty new bags in hand, no doubt mine. Let's see, that amounted to over three thousand for all of us and seventy bags each. You see why we need to steal from a rich guy to go shopping? In no mood to humor these mad people that I called family any longer, I hid behind the closest object, a tall carrot head. The carrot head stared at me with his amber eyes incredulously as I cowered behind his back.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed. I, however, had no time for such things as small talk. Rangiku and Hisana were fast approaching me with bags that seemed to double every other second. Glancing around frantically, I pulled the carrot into one of the small spaces behind the clothes.

"Safe," I sighed. Carrot seemed to be wondering whether or not to turn me in to the nearest asylum.

"Why did you do that?"

"'Cause when my sister and my best friend are in shopalholic mode, nothing stops them," I answered. To my surprise, Carrot laughed. He had a pleasant laugh, I suppose. Except I had never heard any human laughs before.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, at your service," he introduced himself.

"Kuchiki Rukia." OMG. I just told a human my name. I was crouching in a tight space behind a rack of designer clothes with that human. I enjoyed it. Hisana is going to kill me. It wouldn't be soon before they found me. A bit of hypnotism was in high order.

"You didn't see me," I spoke in a slow voice. Ichigo only stared. Impossible! My hypnotism was one of the best in our race! How could a mere human resist it? Deciding that that was impossible and that I had probably just miscalculated, I tried again this time at full power. Instead of staring dreamily into my purple eyes like hypnotized people do, he simply looked at me like I belonged in an asylum.

"What are you doing?" he asked. My mouth dropped. A human, a mere human had been immune to my hypnotism when even Yamamoto caved! What the hell was with the human world?

"Rukia? Where are you?" I heard Hisana say. The sound took a long time to travel to my brain. Before I could change my mind, I knocked the berry head out and crouched behind a stack of shoes, claiming to have hid there the whole time. My lie was bought without any questions, which was what disturbed me. If even my sister and my friend couldn't resist my hypnotism (and they were fairly powerful themselves) then how could…? Deciding it was probably better for my mental health to stop dwelling on the subject and go about eternal life (or death) normally. With so many friends and fun places there and the promise of power, it would be easy to forget Ichigo. Or so I thought.

A/N: Yay! Finally up! Sorry for the wait


	4. Chapter Three

I wasn't exactly what you'd call a selfless person. All my life, I'd grown up spoiled and pampered, being trained for the possible task of being the next leader of the Parasites. I had incredible potential (so I was told) and the whole Parasite world hanging on my every word. What was about to stop me from sneaking out to meet a lousy human that refused to leave my poor head alone? Nothing. Just the fact that Byakuya was more alert then ever now that his dear little sister has hit the rebellious stage. I knew I could do it though-I'd just have to go at night, when everyone was asleep. You're probably thinking that we show some signs of being a vampire in the sunlight-disintegrating, or _sparkling_ (jeez, some human novels have no sense of originality). I'm so sorry to ruin your dream of a perfect vampire to run away with while enjoying eternal life-we don't sparkle. Or disintegrate, turn to bats (though Yoruichi can turn to a cat), or any other unusual signs indicating our diet of blood.

So anyways, I wasn't too worried. If I got caught (admittedly, the plan would be ruined by catching me with a human), I could say I was on a stroll (in army cameo and boots). If my excuses don't work, I'll hypnotize the whole room. Of course, I'll save that as a last resort-hypnotism was sort of tiring when performed on more than five people at once. Yes, I know. A genius (risky) plan.

The day went by slowly. It got harder to control my enthusiasm about my upcoming adventure when all you had to do was listen to boring lectures about hunting safety. What a joke. I was about to break all of them. Though it was entertaining to say the least when Sensei complimented me on my perfect demonstration. I wonder what he'd do if he knew what I was planning.

That night, I checked everywhere. Once I was sure my whole family was asleep, and I had nega chance of being followed, I quietly snuck outside of our little tunnel city. All hail Kuchiki Rukia. No, we did not have really high speed, just a little higher than that of your normal humans. However, our nose is very convenient at times like this when you want to meet up with a human. I sniffed inconspicuously. It wouldn't do to make myself look like a creeper. Then I ducked behind bushes and stealthily made my way towards the carrot's house. Soi Fon would be proud.

My luck skyrocketed. I didn't even have to sneak in to the Strawberry's house. He was already outside, gazing into space. Smirking, I sneaked up on him.

"Yo." The response was immediate. Ichigo jumped about 20 feet and fell anime style with swirls for eyes. He pointed at me dramatically (FEAR MY EVIL FINGER OF DOOM). Che. Seemed like he remembers me.

"You're the girl that knocked me out!"

…

Alright. I'll admit I didn't think about that. Actually, I almost forgot that minuscule detail. What does a person do when they get knocked out behind a rack of designer clothes by an evil purple eyed midget? Let's see, prone to violence, shouting matches, and maybe, just maybe, totally ruining the midget's plan of a nice, friendly chat with the human that refused to get out of her head.

By this time, the carrot was completely purple. At least I had the decency to apologize and semi-explain my situation to him. Except that I made myself out to be some sort of high born princess that wasn't allowed to interact with commoners. I mean seriously 'hello, Ichigo. I am a Parasite that lives to suck blood. By the way, I'm kind of curious about you and if I don't drink blood for too long, I get blood deprivation and may or may not attack you' is actually not a free ticket to jail. Not.

So then after that, everything was dandy. We talked for a while and discovered we had a lot in common. It was surprisingly nice to pretend I was human for a while, even if for just a few hours. There was a little thing I left out of this brief summary as well. On my way back, I suddenly discovered that I was covered in dirt. And wearing army cameo. Sigh. I'll just have to pass it off as not being able to sleep and playing ninja. A lecture about not being a child anymore would be better than being discovered doing something totally illegal and getting burned at the stake.

A/N: Yay! Another chapter finished! This is progressing nicely :)


	5. Chapter Four

It continued like that for quite a while. Every night, I'd sneak out in my (stolen) army cameo, and we'd chat until the sun started to peek over the horizon. I'd sneak back and play innocent. Admit it-I'm a genius. Well-FINE! I have no freaking patience and just freaking decided to interact with a freaking human that just happened to be Ichigo freaking Kurosaki. Do not ask about the 'freaking'. It's better than saying the real word. Anyways, the meeting at night almost (cross the almost out to get the truth) became the highlight of my day. I'd be restless until night, when I'd tiptoe out into the open to meet with the carrot head I was growing dangerously attached to.

Quietly, I donned the much worn army cameo and silently tiptoed out of the estate. Footsteps followed me. Whirling around, I almost hyperventilated. Who knew what would happen to me if someone found out I was meeting with a human? By the way, have I mentioned that it was illegal?

"I knew it," Matsumoto said. Oh shit, is she going to tattle on me?

"Knew what?" I asked nervously, sweating bullets. The army cameo began sticking to my skin (yeah, we can sweat).

"YOU WERE OUT ON A SECRET DETOUR TO MEET UP WITH YOUR LOVER!" she screamed with hearts in her eyes. I fell backwards, completely freaked out. Ichigo…my lover? That so did not fit.

"No! I can explain; it's just my friend!" I said, panicked. I mean, me and the Strawberry lovers, for Kami's sake. The above sent me into imagining our wedding, with me standing on a ladder to reach Ichigo's height. Then I'd topple over, tripping on my long, blue, gown, and accidentally take Ichigo with me into the cake because I have horrible balance. I sweat dropped. Nope, Ichigo and me were definitely just friends. However, the fact that Matsumoto was not wiggling her eyebrows at me in a very suggestive way did not help, and I sprinted away.

Unfortunately, I forgot about the fact that Matsumoto can fly. She caught up with me in a matter of milliseconds, as I panted behind a bush close to the meeting place. The person that had caused all this stood there obliviously, wondering why I was late. My eyes twitched as I fought not to punch Matsumoto in the face.

"Rukia-chan, I'm not going to tell anyone, not even Hisana," she reassured me. I sighed.

"Fine," I caved. Matsumoto squealed in joy, dragging me towards Ichigo.

"Now let's go meet this totally handsome boyfriend of yours! I can't believe you got laid before I did, and with such a fine hunk of meat too!" and on she rambled, causing me to turn the color of a tomato.

"Eh?" was all Ichigo could say before he was tackled in the famous bear hug of Matsumoto, where she suffocates you with her boobs. But he got off easy, the damned brat, because he was actually taller than _Matsumoto_. I on the other hand, and poor Toshiro, always got stuck until she decided we had suffered enough pain. Wait, oh crap, she was going to tell him!

"I hope you've been treating Rukia right," Matsumoto lectured sternly.

"Wait!" I yelled, but I was ignored.

"I want all the filthy details!" she yelled even louder. In despair, I wobbled over to the two of them. This was what you got for making such a pigheaded friend, I told myself. To make it worse, she decided to make me her temporary armrest. I repeatedly kicked her shin until she let me go.

"Sorry I was late, Strawberry," I muttered. Ichigo smiled at me.

"Whatever, Shortcake." We shared a moment of synchronization, where we both glared at Matsumoto. Unaware to this, she continued smiling, looking at us in wonder.

"So, tell me, have you had sex yet?" she asked.

A/N: You probably saw that coming! It's so Matsumoto…lol


	6. Chapter Five

The effects of numerous nights of insomnia were beginning to creep up on me. Actually, cross that out; they have caught me in a snare of over two months of sleeplessness. Yeah. It's that bad. I needed to tell the Strawberry that I had to cancel for a while. No doubt he'd be grateful for the break, because as much as we enjoyed each other's violent company, prominent shadows were beginning to form under each of our eyes.

Matsumoto had decided that we could do without her company on our romantic adieu. At least she hadn't involved anyone else. Believe it our not, Matsumoto, the gossip of Parasite City, could actually keep a secret. A stick cracked behind me. Stunned, I whirled around to find an equally shocked Hitsugaya.

Hitsugaya was one of my friends in Parasite City, one of the only ones I had close to my height. He was a very strict believer in following rules, and was a prodigy. His power was complete manipulation of ice, earning him the name of 'Popsicle.' Yet here he was, sneaking out after hours just like I was. Obviously, he couldn't have been following me, or he would have immediately leapt into action. What was he doing? If he wasn't following me, then he must have been caught in the act of doing something he shouldn't have. Telltale shadows were also under his eyes. He'd been doing this for a long time.

"What are you doing?" we asked at the same time. I decided to answer first.

"Sneaking out to meet someone. You?"

"Same." Oh. Little Toshiro had a girlfriend. A _human_ girlfriend. Immediately, I smacked the idea out of my head. If that was what I was assuming, then what would he think of me and the Strawberry? The idea was not so repulsive; we got along fairly well, and arguing with him was genuinely enjoyable. Besides the fact that our hair clashed, I'd say we made a cute couple. Damned hair…I didn't think that.

"I won't tell if you don't," I promised. He nodded towards me and we went our separate ways. That went smoothly.

Ichigo was already there as always. His height was lowered a few inches by the stooping of his back. Guilt washed over me as I realized it was probably from the months of no sleep.

Fucking conscience. The damned berry head probably didn't care about me. Why should I care?

"You're late," he scowled. I hit him.

"Violent as always." I laughed at that part. Our relationship was odd at best, and stupid at halfway point. It was a strange, messed up system, but it was pretty cool. So we stood there for a while and chatted about random stuff. Then all of a sudden, he pops the question. Not _that_ question! God, you perverts! Well anyways, he asked me if I wanted to meet his family.

Believe me, I really did want to meet his family; it's just that I have no reflection. In my mind, I played out a scene of what could possibly happen;

"_Hi Dad, this is Rukia. Rukia, this is…OH MY GOD YOU HAVE NO REFLECTION!"_

"_No, Ichigo, I can explain!"_

"_Liar!"_

Okay, maybe that was a bit soap opera. But still. You can't overanalyze in situations like this. For all I knew, Ichigo's house could be completely covered with mirrors and reflective surfaces. So just to be safe, I asked him what his house was like. Ichigo stared at me like I was a deranged lunatic, much like the first time we'd met.

"Um…it's pretty much normal; a few windows, a kitchen, bathrooms. All that good shit. Why the hell do you want to know?" Think, Rukia, think very fast. Aha!

"Since I come from a noble house, I want to know what are the differences," I lied very convincingly. To my relief, Ichigo's quirked eyebrow dropped along with his suspicions. As long as I stayed away from the windows, my shadow should pretty much cover everything. Thank god I have a shadow. I couldn't rely of my hypnotism with Ichigo. What the hell was the defect in the kid's brain?

Anyways, I followed him with some trepidation into the house. As soon as I was inside, I was assaulted by a barricade of tears. Was I that ugly? Now I just felt insulted. Just as I opened my mouth to give the idiot a piece of my mind, the situation was explained for me.

"OH, MY DEAR MASAKI, LOOK AT THE LOVELY GIRL ICHIGO BROUGHT WITH HIM! HE SAID HER NAME IS RUKIA, LIKE THE ITALIAN PRONOUNCIATION FOR LIGHT! THEN RUKIA WILL HAVE LOTS OF GRANDBABIES WITH ICHIGO AND LIVE IN THE LAND OF UNICORNS FOREVER!"

…Whatever I was expecting, it certainly wasn't that.

A/N: Yay! Another chapter up! Don't worry, we might have changed our name, but we're still the eville pie


	7. Chapter Six

Ichigo acted as a human shield for the rest of dinner. Unfortunately, it didn't stop the occasional outbursts of emotion from his insane dad, who had now started referring to me as 'third daughter' in hopes that Ichigo and I will fornicate. He didn't even make a secret about his wishes; he told them right to my face. Regardless of whether or not I can come here again, I highly doubt I'd cross the threshold of the circus ever again. Ichigo smirked when he heard this.

"See, dad? She hates you." Which of course, caused the old man to leap up and turn over the whole table.

"I'm sorry about that," Yuzu said. Smiling at her, I scooped up yet another slice of glass. At least someone in the Kurosaki household was sane.

"Yeah, Rukia. What were you thinking when you decided that Ichi-nii was the weirdest of us?" Karin asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know…I mean, your brother was so weird that I just thought…" I trailed off. Instead of insulting Karin, she seemed to be amused.

"Oh, don't worry about it; it's you and the rest of the world." Suddenly, Ichigo and Isshin stopped fighting to look over in our direction. Praying to whatever gods there were, I hoped that my trembling was just a figure of my overactive imagination. Maybe they'd already found out and they were planning to incarcerate me until I divulged all the secrets of Parasite society. Or were they hoping that I'd…?

"Were we hoping that you'd what?" Ichigo snapped, obviously in a bad mood. My hand reached up to scratch the back of my head nervously as I tried to think of a lie.

"N-nothing!" I stuttered, failing to find one. Perhaps I'd permanently scared the carrot-top off with my suspicious behavior, because he glared apprehensively at me and ignored me for the rest of the night.

By the time I'd gotten to the front door, I was in a very hopeful mood. I'd kept my secret, I'd arranged another meeting in a month's time, and nothing reflective had been within ten meters of me. They even had plastic spoons, no doubt to save Yuzu some time in washing dishes. It was then that it happened. The doorbell rang, and reminded Yuzu that she had a date with Jinta, whoever he was. Concerned for her immaculate appearance, she pulled out a mirror. At the time, I was standing behind her. Once satisfied with a dab of coconut lip-gloss, she made to put the delicate looking device back into her white leather purse.

She caught site of me, or rather, the lack of me. At first, she seemed to think it was a trick of the light. Then, becoming more curious, she held the mirror in front of my nose. There was nothing in it, as expected. Yuzu vacated the house screaming.

Too horrified to do much more than just stare, I stood as if frozen.

And Ichigo stared back, the milk he was pouring himself overflowing over the glass.

A/N: We feel much pleased with this chapter. Yes, another cliffie! LOL, we're evil.


	8. Chapter Seven

Karin was the first to recover.

"Holy _shit_, dude…teach me how to do that!"

I repressed the urge to snap back 'shit ain't holy'. Instead, I kept staring at Ichigo and the milk that was now forming a puddle on the floor. My throat felt as if it were filled with sawdust (which has happened before). Oh why did I ever set foot in this accursed house? I _knew_ that something had to have gone wrong with me, Kuchiki Rukia the Queen of all Accidents! Someone kill me now!

"Uh…Rukia, take a deep breath," Karin intoned uncertainly. Too panicked to follow her instructions, I did a weird sort of spazzy dance, trying to avoid Ichigo's dumbstruck gaze. No use; the amber eyes followed me everywhere I went. Isshin recovered second.

"M-Masaki! Third daughter-chan is an Esper! An Esper! Our Ichi-chan has fallen for an Esper! It's okay, Third Daughter, Daddy still loves you!"

In the midst of all this, the milk steadily emptied onto the floor.

7895 drops later, Ichigo recovered.

"Explain," he demanded, shoving me against the wall. NO, NOT LIKE THAT! AS IN FRUSTRATED! BAD RUKIA!

"Er…I," I chocked out. Ichigo didn't move. I gulped.

"You see, I'm not exactly human," I managed. A snort was heard from Ichigo.

"No dip, Sherlock," he hissed, venom dripping from every word.

"I'm a v—" then the door burst open, and Toshiro rushed in, dragging behind him a small girl. My eyes widened in shock.

"Rukia, they found out! About both of us! Someone spy in the humans sold us out!" he gasped.

"T-toshiro? Slow down!" Impatiently, Toshiro set his girlfriend down.

"Yamamoto knows about us! Don't you know what that means?"

Oh god. If I'd thought that tonight was a disaster, I wasn't even prepared for what came next. The radio that had been quietly transmitting some song by Linkin Park suddenly let out a repulsive squeal.

"ATTENTION," the once quiet radio boomed, "THERE HAS BEEN A TSUNAMI WARNING! IT WILL HIT AT 7:00 PM! EVERYONE, PLEASE GET TO A HIGH PLACE AND TAKE SHELTER."

The Kurosaki family, Toshiro, his girlfriend and I all exchanged glances. Finally, Ichigo spoke up in such a tired voice I thought he was thirty.

"There's a cave near here somewhere. We can tide the storm out there." Then he glared at me. And you'd better explain then, or I'll eat your liver, he seemed to be saying. I ducked behind Karin (sadly, I didn't have to stoop) as we made the hike to the cave.

"Wait," she suddenly said. We stopped.

"What about Yuzu? Jinta and her will be too busy smooching to listen to the warning!"

Realization dawned upon me.

"Karin, get everyone to the cave! Rukia, you're coming with me and you better explain on the way!"

Ugh. Don't you hate those types that always saves the day?

A/N: Finally up! Please don't hate us for taking a long time…


	9. Chapter Eight

The terse silence continued for the duration of the trip to Jinta's house. I mean, what was this—a soap opera? Grumbling to myself, I strained my accursed short legs to keep up with the long ones of Ichigo. What was he on—peds? My eyes gave him a once over. The moonlight caught his eyes in a way that made them seem silvery. Loathe as I was to admit it, he looked…good.

Finally, we arrived in front of a typical house from the Feudal Era. For a moment, I wondered if we'd somehow traveled back in time until I realized that I could hear television. And then my companion spoke to me for the first time since the house.

"Brace yourself."

A small—microscopic and don't you dare doubt it!—part of me wanted to simper like an air-headed middle school girl on her first date at his blatant concern for me. Oh Ichigo…you _do_ care! Another part of me was on guard. There weren't that many things in the world that could scare the Ichi-berry, and if this was one of them, I'd better be prepared. Still, yet another part of me felt like my entire body was made of soda.

Yes. I am a very complicated woman—or vampire, for that matter.

So I stepped gingerly (I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier! Ichigo Kurosaki walked _gingerly_ into the house) across the threshold, trying very hard to ignore the warm bubbles in my stomach.

Whatever I'd expected, it certainly wasn't this.

Yuzu and Jinta were curled up together in that cheesy couple fashion, watching a movie that most have been Yuzu's selection. There was a black cat sitting on the table, drinking milk with surprising dignity. A tall, muscled man was cleaning. A short girl about Jinta's age clung to his apron, a shy blush on her face. But those weren't what I was focused on.

The room that we walked into was certainly well furnished—for a house based on Feudal Japan. The walls were a light chestnut, and the floor was bamboo. Just the right combination of simplicity and fashion. There were no curtains—only shutters on the windows. Futons were stacked in a corner of the room, no doubt for when the assembled grew sleepy.

But that wasn't what my attention was on either, never mind the fact that one of them had tiny pink bunnies embroidered on it.

My attention was caught by the ever familiar straw hat and traditional clogs.

This was the home of Urahara Kisuke, the former commander of the research group. The Parasite known for his intellect and many contributions to the advancement of science. Here he was, just as I remembered him in his beloved hat and green robe. _Urahara Kisuke_.

The traitor of all Parasites.

"Why Rukia-chan! I do believe you've grown!"

A/N: Teehee, _another_ cliffie. The rising action begins now.


	10. Chapter Nine

The warm bubbles that were _not_ left over from contact with a certain strawberry fizzled. Then they popped and I was left with blind anger. Oh, how I'd love to kill that stupid hat-wearing-traitor. No, killing him wouldn't be enough. I'd dissect him with my awesome ice powers, crush every organ in him, and freeze his entrails. Then, I'd drop all of that in boiling oil which I'd pour into fire—but not before I extracted his brain and made it into mashed potato.

His brain was the start of everything.

Urahara Kisuke had once been my teacher. He specialized in science, particularly biotic life and genesis (the last part had been a joke on his age, one he'd initiated). Eventually, experiments weren't enough for him, and he ventured to the human world to learn their secrets. No one knew what happened then, but whatever it was, it was enough to get him a lifetime ban and a kill on sight issued.

But now? I wasn't sure. Jinta and Ururu were definitely human, but they showed no sign of experimentation. There was also the matter of Tessai (the tall muscled man I had failed to recognize), a previous sealing expert.

Yup, another vampire.

Oh god, how many old acquaintances was I going to meet here?

But no matter now. Ichigo was staring at me with a curious expression on his face like—if you don't explain now, I'm going to throw you off a cliff.

And out there somewhere, a tsunami was 30 minutes away. Right. Focus on the tsunami.

"Do you know him?" slipped out of Ichigo's mouth. I blinked stupidly. Huh? Was he talking to me? His amber eyes swirled with many emotions and a found a trace of brown. Don't stare at me with those eyes!

I am not insane. I am not insane. I am not—

"Are you going to answer?"

"Huh?" I was jerked out of my completely sane declarations of sanity. I am sane. Right. I am. Um…

"Never mind…damned midget," Ichigo grumbled. Oh wait! There was still a tsunami waiting to happen!

"I promise I'll explain later! We need to get out of here!"

Realization dawned in Ichigo's eyes. Without waiting for consent, he started to shove everyone out the door. A sigh of relief escaped me. This was crazy.

Oh, if only I knew it was only the calm before the storm.

A/N: Sorry, we're hooked on short chapters. It's so…anyways, you can blame James Patterson. His chapters are even shorter than ours.


End file.
